Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims have marched through the streets of the sacred Iraqi city of Karbala to pay their last respects to the 115 people killed in a wave of devastating bombings.

Chanting "God is Greatest", they carried about a dozen coffins through the streets, some laden with flowers, others draped in rugs with verses from the Koran, as black-clad musicians clashed cymbals, banged drums and blew horns.

At least five bombs tore through Karbala on Tuesday morning local time, just as a major Shiite religious festival was concluding.

At least 115 people were killed and more than 200 wounded, according to Health Ministry figures. The US military said at least one of the blasts was a suicide bombing.

Coordinated strikes carried out at the same time against Shiite worshippers in Baghdad killed 70, the Health Ministry said.

The funeral procession, led by Karbala's senior clerics, made its way through the heart of the city towards the mosque of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, where the bodies were taken inside and the mass of mourners said prayers.

Crowds gathered to watch the procession along the streets and from balconies, shouting "Hussein! Hussein!", invoking the name of a revered Shiite martyr, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, killed more than 13 centuries ago.

In a sermon at the mosque, a leading Karbala cleric urged the crowds not to seek vengeance for the blasts, which struck as about 2 million pilgrims gathered to mark their holiest day.

"Those who did this want a civil war in Iraq but we will not be drawn into it," Ayatollah Hadi al-Muddaresi said.

"This act against us was an aggression against all Muslims."

Revenge

As he spoke, hundreds of supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr, a more extreme Shiite cleric who strongly opposes the US occupation of Iraq, tried to shout him down, saying: "We want our revenge against Saddam the infidel and against America."

They also chanted "No, no America! Yes, Yes Islam" but were soon silenced by the rest of the mourners.

After the sermon, the coffins were carried to the nearby shrine of Imam Abbas and from there to the edge of the city, from where they will be taken to the holy city of Najaf, south of Karbala, to a revered Muslim burial ground.

Iranian state television said 29 Iranian Shiite pilgrims were killed in the Baghdad and Karbala blasts and their bodies were expected to be taken back to Iran. Fifty ambulances were sent to Iraq to pick up the bodies.

The mourners in Karbala were mostly calm but some were angry at the Americans, who they said had not done enough to protect the Ashura religious processions from attackers. Others laid the blame on extremist Sunni Muslims.

"This attack was carried out by terrorist Wahhabis who don't believe in God," said Salim Killabi, a mourner in his 30s, referring to the strict Sunni sect, which many Iraqi Shiites identify with Al Qaeda.

"Al Qaeda are cooperating with others to kill the Shiites."

But there was also joy among some mourners, who said their relatives and friends who died in the blasts were lucky, having died on the same day as Imam Hussein.

Ashura is a 10-day period that marks the end of Hussein's life and calls on celebrants to grieve and share in his pain.

"This day is good for the dead," said Nassir Jumaa, from Karbala. "They are martyrs because they died the day they were celebrating Ashura, the day of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein."

"They sacrificed their souls for Hussein," cried the muezzin - the caller to prayer - from the minaret of the Imam Hussein mosque, his amplified words echoing across the city.